One of the three men killed with Ishrat Jahan in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 had got a wound treated at a Delhi clinic around 40 days before the incident.

Amjad Ali had come alone to the hospital in the evening of May 5 and a surgical procedure was performed on his right
shoulder. The wound, he told the doctor, was caused by an accident. According to Dr Sidharth Sahni’s statement, which was recorded in June 2004 by an assistant commissioner of Gujarat police that HT has accessed, Ali came with a sutured wound that was bleeding.

The police suspected it to be a bullet injury.

Ali, who identified himself as ‘Sajal’, had paid Rs. 1,500 in cash but did not return for a follow-up, read the statement. He spoke in Hindi but his pronunciation was not of a Delhi resident. According to the CBI chargesheet, Ali had said he had come to Ahmedabad to commit a terror act at some crowded location.

The Gujarat police had said Ishrat and others were LeT operatives plotting to kill CM Narendra Modi. According to the Intelligence Bureau, Ali was identified as Pakistani LeT operative ‘Babar’ by another Pakistani operative, Shahid Basra, who was arrested in Kashmir but is now dead.

Shinde takes stand on punishmentRefusing to get drawn into the fight between the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and CBI over senior IB official Rajinder Kumar’s alleged role in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said the guilty should be punished.

Shinde also clarified that the probe into whether Ishrat Jahan was a terrorist, is on. Shinde said at his monthly press conference, “Those guilty should be punished.” He added that every agency has an identity and that he would need to know the details of IB’s role to make a statement.

He also denied having received a letter from IB director Asif Ibrahim protesting against CBI investigation into Rajinder Kumar’s role.